I always win small but lose big in Hold'em

[miklcct]

Whenever I hit hard and bet on the flop, the villain always folds immediately.
Whenever I bring my hand to the river, no matter value betting or bluffing, I always lose to a better hand, sometimes with a made hand all the way from the flop without strong action.

The stakes I play is 0.01/0.02.

Example: I called with A7 at the blinds and the flop went AA7, I bet immediately and the villain folded immediately.

Example: The flop was K78 and the turn was 2, with 3 diamonds on the board including the turn. I value bet my two pairs at the turn holding 72, the villain raised, and it turned out he got the nuts (Ax of diamonds) and I lost the whole buy in.

Example: I held x2 and the flop went H22. I planned to check raise but the aggressor didn't c-bet, so we checked through the flop and turn, and I ended up winning a small pot at the river.

I have already lost 3 buy ins consecutively, why can't I win big pots in Hold'em?

 

[farahonloveshad]

In micro-stakes like 0.01/0.02, it's normal for opponents to fold quickly when you hit strong hands because they only put money in when they have something solid. Then, when you reach the river, you often run into the best hand because that's when they're encouraged to call or raise. This means you win small pots and lose some big ones, but it doesn't mean you're playing badly. It just means that variance and the straightforward style of play at those levels require patience and adjusting your strategy to extract value little by little.

 

[nabmom]

There is a lot of information that we still need to be able to give you answers. It would be nice to see an entire hand history of a hand that you are wondering about. The issue could be bet sizing, it could be the style of the specific opponent you are playing, it could be that you are playing too many hands or overplaying the hands you have. We have a great hand history forum here that could give you a lot of great advice.

 

[monkeytilter]

Hand strengths are relative not absolute. You need to learn to properly judge the value of your hand based on the board you are dealt.
So for example with the 72 two pair, yes you have a better than average hand but on that board there are over cards allowing villain to have better two pair and 3 flushing cards allowing villain to have a flush - in a big pot it becomes more likely you are beat by these hands.

My advice is you are not ready to play cash games, you will lose buy in after buy in. Play cheap tournaments, sit and goes, freerolls maybe even some play money poker until you have built up a basic game, one of the cornerstones being the understanding of relative hand strengths.

 

[pep12343]

Clearly you're making mistakes. Even when you're not committing them, sometimes you're not getting the most out of your strategy.
You are giving little information, but with that I can correct some things.

1. Your mentality is negative and you don't see reality. By saying “always”, I think you're only focusing on what goes wrong. I don't think it's possible for something to “always” go right or wrong in poker.

2. It's not just about “betting”. You have to look at your betting range. It's hard to explain, but having a good range will help you focus on the possibilities your opponent might have, such as collapsing their projects, etc., or making them think you're bluffing to lure them into a bigger bluff when you have the winning hand. It's very complex to explain, but when you understand it, you'll accept your mistake.

3. You never mention the position you're playing from or the type of opponent you're up against, if you've ever seen them before. This leads me to think that you are not considering these very important details. Uploading with full from UTG is not the same as uploading from the button. Applying that to your example, I advise you to add theoretical knowledge to your practical game to keep improving. Best of luck!

 

[miklcct]

Hand strengths are relative not absolute. You need to learn to properly judge the value of your hand based on the board you are dealt.
So for example with the 72 two pair, yes you have a better than average hand but on that board there are over cards allowing villain to have better two pair and 3 flushing cards allowing villain to have a flush - in a big pot it becomes more likely you are beat by these hands.

My advice is you are not ready to play cash games, you will lose buy in after buy in. Play cheap tournaments, sit and goes, freerolls maybe even some play money poker until you have built up a basic game, one of the cornerstones being the understanding of relative hand strengths.

I am afraid that playing tournaments will lead me to lose money faster. I have tried to play some cheap MTTs but I get into the money far less than half of the tournaments I have played in.

Also, tournament poker is a completely different game than cash poker as nearly all of my tournament life is less than 20 BB, leaving little scope for post-flop play. It is basically a game of waiting for a good hand, shove, hope that I can double up then survive into the bubble.

 

[SpanRmonka]

Like @monkeytilter says, the 2 pair hand with 72 loses to so much there, this is a hand you should be trying to get to the river cheaply, and even folding to a lot of aggression.

When you flop a full house with A7 on an AA7 board, what hands will call a bet on the flop? pocket pairs will likely see the turn but they will be worried about an A. Ax, yes they will, but there are very few combos of this left, so unlikely opponent has this, and very little else, so maybe this is a hand you should be letting the villain bluff you, sometimes you just have such a lock on the board that you won't win much.

I think unfortunately you are allowing the opponent to win big against your OK hands, but also have too much expectation that you 'should' win big with your big hands, very often this doesn't happen. Cash games are often about profiting from the kinds of mistakes you have described, and if your opponents aren't doing this then you need other ways to steadily take chips from them. Many players at this level are decent enough players, so you do have to work out their tendancies and play accordingly.

 

[Rmi]

You must start studying or choose another modality.

 

[miklcct]

One of the problem I am finding is that the villain sometimes didn't bet a made hand at the flop / turn, which resulted in me thinking that he didn't have that hand and I bet my top pair / two pairs through the river. He then calls all the way and show that made hand that he didn't bet, or make a raise at the river, resulting in me losing a large pot.

For example, the flop is all hearts, I don't have a heart but I hit two pairs or a triplet. The villain check-call all the way and win a large pot from me.

Another example is that, a river card has improved my hand, e.g. I get a flush, so I value bet it while having checked all the street previously, and the villain raised it, resulting in me losing a large pot when he showed a better hand like a full house on the river.

How can I avoid losing dozens of BB in these hands?

 

[hardongear]

2nl can be pretty easily beat using only preflop charts and playing a simple boring TAG(tight and aggressive) strategy. Without some hand histories we have no idea what you're doing wrong.....no offense likely a lot by the sounds of it. At the very least more than one simple post on a forum can cover and also might just be on the wrong end of some variance. Idk why you're in any hand with 72. Fold that junk.

So you need to start here.....https://www.casino.us/poker/strategy/become-a-winning-poker-player/
Then read over Jonathan Little's free offerings here. You'll find preflop charts and other tools there as well so bookmark this site.....https://www.mypokercoaching.com/

If I were you at this point I'd doing more studying, reading, learning and thinking over your game/style/strategy than I would playing. If I were you I'd plan to play mainly on weekends(this will offer the easiest/softest competition) and I'd spend my free time during the week studying, reading, learning and thinking about my game/style/strategy.

Other things to work on that are required to be a winning player are the following: bankroll management, mental toughness/tilt control, discipline, patience and game selection.

Cheers!!!

 

[wushibala]

Let me reassure you — about 90% of players play this way: they win little and lose a lot.

 

[miklcct]

2nl can be pretty easily beat using only preflop charts and playing a simple boring TAG(tight and aggressive) strategy. Without some hand histories we have no idea what you're doing wrong.....no offense likely a lot by the sounds of it. At the very least more than one simple post on a forum can cover and also might just be on the wrong end of some variance. Idk why you're in any hand with 72. Fold that junk.

So you need to start here.....https://www.casino.us/poker/strategy/become-a-winning-poker-player/
Then read over Jonathan Little's free offerings here. You'll find preflop charts and other tools there as well so bookmark this site.....https://www.mypokercoaching.com/

If I were you at this point I'd doing more studying, reading, learning and thinking over your game/style/strategy than I would playing. If I were you I'd plan to play mainly on weekends(this will offer the easiest/softest competition) and I'd spend my free time during the week studying, reading, learning and thinking about my game/style/strategy.

Other things to work on that are required to be a winning player are the following: bankroll management, mental toughness/tilt control, discipline, patience and game selection.

Cheers!!!

Btw I mainly play on a platform which doesn't allow game selection.

 

[hardongear]

Btw I mainly play on a platform which doesn't allow game selection.

You may not be able to select which table you sit....I play mainly on Pokerstars myself they got rid of table selection a number of months ago. Which is fine I play poker for the challenge anyways. Just give me any seat at any table at the stakes I play.

When I said game selection I didn't mean table, villain selection or bum-hunting I meant choosing poker site games that are beatable and have less variance. For example zoom, all-in or fold and such fast games in my 20+ years experience are tough to near impossible to beat after rake so I'd stay away from all them type of fast games.

Cheers!!!

 

[rei signo]

Você pode não conseguir escolher em qual mesa vai jogar... Eu jogo principalmente no PokerStars, e eles removeram a seleção de mesas há alguns meses. O que não me incomoda, já que jogo poker pelo desafio. Só quero qualquer lugar em qualquer mesa, nos limites que eu jogo.

Quando falei em seleção de jogos, não me referia à mesa, à escolha do vilão ou a caçar jogadores fracos, mas sim a escolher jogos em sites de poker que sejam vencíveis e tenham menor variância. Por exemplo, jogos rápidos como zoom, all-in ou fold, na minha experiência de mais de 20 anos, são difíceis, quase impossíveis, de vencer depois do rake, então eu evitaria todos esses tipos de jogos rápidos.

Saúde!!!

Zoom and All-in-Fold bets can yield great prizes and increase your balance quickly, as well as being a way to make quick money in some situations!

 

[Prophet]

Once you reverse this trend, you will become profitable player.
One reason why you loose big is because you are very confident in your hand strenght ,when you shouldn't. You can fix this by being more conservative, not only protecting your chips but also trap your opponent when you really got the nuts.
Playing conservative could also help you win big when you have it, by not showing aggression , your opponent my grow confidence and donate his chips to you

 

[ThreeeBigB]

Let me reassure you — about 90% of players play this way: they win little and lose a lot.

Puh! So it i am not alone!

 

[hardongear]

Zoom and All-in-Fold bets can yield great prizes and increase your balance quickly, as well as being a way to make quick money in some situations!

Poker is a long term game. So I'm more about the long term winning...not getting lucky with short term bingo/lotteries. If I wanna play bingo/lotteries I'll spend $2 bucks to win millions not $2 to win a few extra bucks on fast games of poker which will just end up giving all the profit back long term. Unlike 85-90% of poker players I actually make ok money for the stakes I play, withdraw said money and spend it on actual stuff. I don't put it back into the site or in other players bankrolls. I also prefer lower variance games as the majority of players should because it's easier mentality but most don't which makes them tilt any gains/profits away very quickly. To each their own thou.

Cheers!!!

 

[dreamer13]

You don't risk your entire stack in questionable situations and you play strong hands and bet when you have an edge; in poker, you have to take risks.

 

[miklcct]

You don't risk your entire stack in questionable situations and you play strong hands and bet when you have an edge; in poker, you have to take risks.

When they shove their entire stack against a strong hand, like an A-flush on a pair board, I have no idea if they have a full house or not.

(In PLO-6 it is a clear fold as only nuts have value in that game)

 

[rei signo]

Poker é um jogo de longo prazo. Por isso, meu foco é ganhar a longo prazo... não depender da sorte em jogos de bingo/loteria. Se eu quiser jogar bingo/loteria, gasto 2 dólares para ganhar milhões, não 2 dólares para ganhar alguns trocados extras em partidas rápidas de poker, que acabam me fazendo perder todo o lucro a longo prazo. Ao contrário de 85-90% dos jogadores de poker, eu realmente ganho um bom dinheiro com as apostas que faço, saco esse dinheiro e gasto com coisas de verdade. Não o devolvo para o site nem para a banca de outros jogadores. Também prefiro jogos de baixa variância, como a maioria dos jogadores deveria fazer, porque é mais fácil de entender, mas a maioria não prefere, o que faz com que percam seus ganhos/lucros muito rapidamente. Cada um com a sua.

Saúde!!!

Risking $2 and winning $20 quickly might be interesting one day or another and save the day, but entering tournaments will yield bigger prizes. A good cash game session can save your day from losses in several MTTs. I don't have the cash to play several good tournaments every day, but tell me, how many games and expenses do you play per day? How much do you earn during the month and during the year? Are you able to always stay positive, have you achieved great results many times?

 

[black and]

If you notice any patterns, if there is something that happens every time and you know it, then just think about how you can use it to your advantage. Maybe what you've noticed and what you know, what happens every time, will help you make money. Think about it.

 

[hardongear]

Risking $2 and winning $20 quickly might be interesting one day or another and save the day, but entering tournaments will yield bigger prizes. A good cash game session can save your day from losses in several MTTs. I don't have the cash to play several good tournaments every day, but tell me, how many games and expenses do you play per day? How much do you earn during the month and during the year? Are you able to always stay positive, have you achieved great results many times?

Been winning player for 20+ years playing mainly cash full-ring cash(just switched to 6 max in 2026) still winning and longer 10+ min blind level MTT's. Paid for vacations, paid off cars early, brought 8k worth of sim racing gear plus many other nice things over the years. Not single nickel made from any bingo lottery fast/rake trap games that are almost impossible to beat long term. Game selection is important as knowing how to play poker when it comes to winning long term.

Again to each their own. If you like lottery bingos by all means play till your hearts content. best of luck cause that's all they really are is luckfests.

Cheers!!!

 

[fundiver199]

As others have said, the first step is to get rid of this negative mentality, that you "cant win" or "always lose". Many poker players overestimate their own skills, which is a big problem, but you are to far in the other camp. You need to get into a "I can beat this game, if I try" mindset and then study and practice, until it eventually happen.

As for the actual hands, its better to share them one by one to the hand analysis section, so that we get all the details about positions, action, board texture and so on and so forth. Since the AA7 hand ended on the flop, I will make a comment about that one though. And this is going to be, that when you literally flop a full house, its often a good time to make an exception and slowplay.

The reason is, your hand dont need any protection, and you also block a lot of the strong hands, your opponent can have. In this case there is only one A left in the deck, and there are no straightdraws on AA7. So especially if its a rainbow board, there is very little, your opponent can continue with, if you make a big bet. And for that reason its better to either bet very small or more commonly check and allow the opponent to catch up a bit or bluff.

Its important to get to a point, where you are not only playing your own hand but also thinking about your opponents range. This is also true for the 72 hand, where yes you have a bottom two pair, but when the opponent raise, he is representing a hand better than bottom two pair, especially with 3 cards to a flush being out there. This idea is called hand reading and is explained in the CC 30 day course.

 

[Noobgila]

Not telegraphing you hand strength is very important, and if you are an extremely nitty player, no-one is ever gonna call you when you play. you need to find that sweet spot, where you play with hands other than the nuts from time to time.

 

[Pabloro10321]

Your biggest enemy right now isn't your cards, it's your rank. Playing 72 is a recipe for disaster because, even when you achieve something, you'll almost always be dominated by a better hand (as you saw with that Diamond Axe). Losing three buy-ins is normal, but if you correct your tendency to play garbage and bet too much when your opponent has nothing, you'll see how those jackpots start to arrive.